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The Palo Alto girls basketball starting five lacks the same experience of the past several years and yet the Vikings continue to win.
Palo Alto, playing without third-year guard Kaella Peters, beat visiting South San Francisco 63-20 in a non-league game Monday night.
Paly (10-1) won its eighth straight contest and matched its best start since the winter of 2000 with a lineup that included two freshmen and a transfer.
“We lost a lot of great seniors after last year,” Paly coach Scott Peters said. “We have the same mentality though because the freshmen have stepped up.”
Freshmen Vienn Sheng, who led the Vikings with 14 points, and Natalie Neumann have stepped into the starting lineup and freshman Katherine Garr comes off the bench.
Transfer Nadia Brown scored 11 points against SSF (5-3), adding a strong presence on defense. Jessica Fiske and Thea Enache, the only seniors on the team, bring toughness and leadership.
Because of the relative inexperience, the Vikings have been using their full complement of players nearly every game.
“We have to,” Peters said. “With COVID you never know what is going to happen. Everybody needs to be ready.”
Palo Alto has already postponed both of its Santa Clara Valley Athletic League games against Lynbrook and Los Gatos this week due to COVID concerns.
“We’ll just keep practicing,” said Peters.
That means Paly doesn’t play again until traveling to Wilcox for a 7 p.m. contest on Wednesday, Jan. 12.
Sheng and Brown combined to score 13 points in the first quarter, helping Paly build a 21-7 advantage.
McKenna Rausch and Caroline Mostofizadeh each added eight points for Paly.
Palo Alto also opened the 2014-15 season and 2001-02 season with 10-1 records.
Gunn 64, Overfelt 42
Kean Annette Tong scored 15 points as the Titans (5-2) bounced back from a big loss to Valley Christian (10-2) just before Christmas.
Tong was one of four players to reach double figures in scoring. She was joined by Vallory Kuelker (17), Mollie Kuelker (12) and Beverly Lamis (10).
Gunn is scheduled to host Notre Dame San Jose at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday night.
